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Panalpina increases customer focus with new region and CCO

The Panalpina Group is realigning its regional setup and appointing a Chief Commercial Officer. A fourth region consisting of the Middle East, Africa and the CIS (MEAC) will come into effect on January 1st 2014, headquartered in Dubai.

“Becoming ever more customer-focused is at the very top of our agenda,” said Panalpina CEO Peter Ulber. “By introducing the MEAC region and appointing a Chief Commercial Officer to our Executive Board, we are moving yet closer to our customers to better serve their individual needs.”

Tapping into growth markets

Countries in the current region Europe, Middle East, Africa and CIS will be split among the new MEAC and Europe regions. On the one hand this will reduce the complexities associated with the current setup. On the other hand it will make it easier to tap into the many business opportunities in the fast growing markets between Port Elizabeth in South Africa and Sakhalin in Russia.

Long-standing senior manager Peter Triebel will run the new MEAC region and join Panalpina’s Executive Committee (ExCom). Triebel started his career as an export manager at Swiss freight forwarder Jacky Maeder and acted as its CEO when the company was acquired by Panalpina in 1999. Since then he has held various senior management positions for Panalpina in Europe, Africa and Asia. Triebel is currently Area Manager for Northwest Europe. For his new role he will move from London to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Fostering customer relations

In his new role as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) on the Executive Board, Karl Weyeneth will be responsible for Sales, Marketing and Quality as well as for the company’s Operations Transformation Program. Weyeneth, who has acted as Panalpina’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) since 2008, is expected to drive growth while playing a crucial role in securing and fostering key customer relations.

The COO function will be dissolved meaning that the Global Heads of Air Freight, Ocean Freight and Logistics will report directly to the CEO. “Moving forward, the two dimensions of our matrix organization, the products and the regions, will be equally balanced,” explained Ulber.

The new four region set-up (Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and MEAC) and changes in management structure will come into effect on January 1st2014.